Kohler Command hard cranking

Fred Werring · Oct 12, 2022

Twin cylinder Kohler vertical CV725

Starter will not crank it over all the time...it's like you have to bump it until you get past the compression stroke on a cylinder.
Once you get past that, will crank and start.
Battery is new, 350 cca. Connections are clean and tight, ran an extra ground cable from the battery to the starter just because.
I don't see a compression release in the parts diagrams, am I missing anything there?
Hydraulic lifters, so no adjustment there, right?
Am I missing something, or is it time for a starter?
As I've said before, small engines are not my strong suit.

I did order the ignition conversion kit I was talking about a week ago, eliminating the ASAM module. Installed yesterday, runs fine....once you get it to crank. And I had the cranking
issue before I did the conversion, so that's not it.

Thanks

Gene Davis (Ga.) · Oct 12, 2022

The compression relief is part of the camshaft, with a spring that reset it for cranking, if the spring breaks the relief doesn't work right for cranking. On those engines with the hydrualic lifters, check that the valves have some clearance as sometimes they fail to bleed down or pump up. The lifters are the same as the ones in 350 Chevrolet engines and that is much cheaper than buying them from Kohler. Also, these engines will work best with 10W-30 oil instead of regular 30 wt.

Kohler Command hard cranking

Fred Werring

Well-known Member

Gene Davis (Ga.)

Well-known Member

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